Web
Analytics Made Easy - Statcounter
MrP_'s Content - The Lotus Forums - Official Lotus Community Partner Jump to content


MrP_

Basic Account
  • Posts

    630
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

Everything posted by MrP_

  1. Now ex Atom owner with long lotus history including V6's, and semi regularly am out in various Exiges and their derivatives. I'd say you can't really compare them. Your 410 is in a real sweet spot of raw vs practical, you can happily track it, then go away for a weekend with the wife in it, you can get caught in the rain etc - so if you don't want to do all of that stuff and its just for track, then you are maybe answering the comment that the Atom isn't really a car, its a toy on wheels - and thats not meant negatively. An Atom is fairly unique in just how exposed you are to the world, and nothing like an Exige in that sense - outside of the biblical performance its (and I struggle to give it a better term), mindful driving - everything is on another level, and you are linked to all of that - you smell things you have never noticed, you're assaulted by everything flies to the face, stones flying up you, you can tell how rich the car in front it running. No other car can you see all 4 wheels whilst driving, the performance is on another level, the build quality outstanding, factory support wonderful. The 4 is a wonderful machine, wonderful handling as well as speed. There is little out there it can't beat on the road and most track days, Mono is about all that springs to mind. The engineering on it is just brilliant, you can pick out details for hours. The K20C is lovely, but a big turbo experience, it chuffs away with a ton of torque - very different from a 'yota lump with a supercharger. I found it just a joy to drive, but I got sick of the attention from it. Its one of the most pure driving experiences you can imagine, and not much else can hold a candle to it - I've sort of been switched off sports cars as they are just all a bit muted compared to a AA4 at full pelt (or any speed). Best thing is if you do have a build slot, you can spec what you want, buy it, run for a summer and sell having it cost you pretty much nothing. Shout if you want to know more, its a bonkers brilliant thing - but if I was to go again I'd go Nomad, and if you like to not be noticed its not for you (buying petrol became a nightmare, and I switched to jerry cans at home) Pic for attention
  2. Great stuff @GoldenGun glad you enjoyed her and great to see her with another happy owner!
  3. Great work, nice to see her evolving. Really like it without the matte paint 👌
  4. Glad she's still putting smiles out there! Shame about the V5 but hopefully sorted soon, but like you say not great weather anyway. Enjoy!
  5. Cheers @Bibs. It was great to see it all sorted and knowing I'd help prolong its life! As for whats next, I genuinely have no idea! I'm sure I'll be inspired by something soon enough, but I know it has to either be either bonkers raw so it is a complete contrast to the M5 or supercar territory so it feels like a big achievement. But no rush, I'll see what is out there. Not in the right frame of mind for driving at the moment, so will see what is out there when the passion is back 👍
  6. Never been a fan of there body coloured aero - its big and brash, make a statement with it, trying to hide it just doesn't work to my eyes @CocoPops car looks great, looking forward to seeing it with the lighter wheels
  7. Right, final update I think…. The final change I made was to replace the silver badging to black for the LOTUS and Exige sticker, badging was done myself but Devine Handcraft did the black Exige Decal Looks pretty good with the general black and red theme: I don't think I showed an interior shot before, as it was always in the middle of the night I worked on the car: Then she was off to her new owner - I didn’t advertise her and all enquiries came I think from this build thread, and to lots of helpful Lotus owners who got the word out for me. There was lots of interest, some faded away several were very interested but needed to sell first and it went quite for a bit, until a fellow Exige owner highlighted to someone who was considering a Elise 250Cup vs an 09 Cup260, that mine was around and should be considered - a deal was done and taking a huge leap of faith in doing a deal at distance, the car was sold - and soon heading up North to its new home Unfortunately it was a wet day, which was a shame as you never like a new car day to be rainy one But off she went to a very happy owner, hopefully he'll be on hear soon to update the thread as I think he has a few more things planned - and will actually drive it unlike me So that’s the Cup260 restoration done, I scaled back plans at the end - but in the end I took what people said was an excellent condition car, into a properly excellent condition and in the end it was pretty good. Pictures never did it justice, so you'll have to take my word for it, but she was a cracking looking car by the time I said goodbye! Great to end on the best Exige I ever owned! After 6 Exiges, I guess my time with them is done - each one I drove less as life got in the way, strangely as kids got older they took up more and more time and effort and I could never make time for a drive, so time for a change Ito reignite the spark
  8. Door card off or loosened, magnet on a stick like this 26 Inches Telescopic Magnetic Pick Up Tool Rod Stick Extending Magnet Handheld Tool(Black) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BJWJS1V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_G7T3E5D6ZAK88EGPGY4F Poke it around a bit, job jobbed
  9. Some finished off Cup260 pics, restoration now considered (almost) complete:
  10. So I wheeled the car out to take some photos and to have a wash - and I've got to say I am pretty pleased with where its ended up.. A few small adjustments made, but nothing major - all seems good. Far to say its still pretty raw as expected, but when you get about 30/40 MPH it just sort of comes together, hunkers down and comes alive - it’s a really very special car, very pleased. A red car really needs to be outside to come to life:
  11. So no detailed steps just various bits and bobs of reattaching bits, cable tying, roof on etc Just to get to the point that it is a finished car, apart from needing two stickers on the rear clam, maybe a polish on the rear clam to make it flawless, but otherwise shes done Might even go out in her, but we'll see don't want to be too rash
  12. Front half of the cabin now… Shelf was trimmed with alcantara, easily removed as its tacked in with tape rather than glued but prefer the darker look, and stops stuff sliding about: Trimmed the shelf ends as well (obviously kept untouched originals) Spacer removed from steering wheel to get it all back to OEM, trimmed shroud and stereo control removed: Will leave the alcantara wheel in as I much prefer the look over the original rubbish leather wheel, but I'll keep both in case Foot cam removed, wiring and USB power has been left there but tucked out the way as it’s a useful feature to have. Door cars removed, scrubbed then stain shielded - they has a bit of that sweet smell that was in the car and I wanted rid Seats back in etc Now everything back in and all good to go, quite a pointless exercise to install so many bits then remove, but that where we are And I suppose some regret that all the hard work on trimming wont be seen in all its glory. Excuse the less than great pics, it was very late: What do we think rip the top half of the carpets back out and go with the half carpet half ali look of the S2? Personally I much prefer the look of all carpet, but don't know if that’s just cos I'm a weirdo
  13. Operation tidy up firmly underway… No real mods to the engine bay since I decided to not fit the ProAlloy intercooler and cold air kit, keeping it OEM etc So really it was a tart up as we'd already changed all the belts etc as part of the big service Intercooler out to clean it and all that it blocks Lots of scrubbing, dressing etc and it came up OK: Then on to the removal of bits that I fitted and will never use in this car Camera out first, before: After Seats back out again, so I can remove what was meant to be the extra sensor wiring: SmartyCam recorder removed, it was down by drivers hip which seemed about the best place for anyone doing it. I also found that you can order just about any length of bullet cam cable, just order up a 50ohm cable with SMA connectors each end and it works great. You can make your owns for a few quid vs £80 from AiM and then you make them any length Bulkhead and harness bar out to strip out the following (mainly as it can’t be used without the AiM dash and that never got fired up outside the garage): Data Hub, SmartyCAM, CAN Channel extender, plus all relevant extensions for sensors into engine bay Aux power feed, rear camera feeds remain as the next owner might want and I spent ages getting them all in and hidden away Amazing how many nights were spent staring at the wiring trying to get it just right, all taken out in a few yours. Next is to revert steering cowling and put back the OEM trim, as well as footcam (which works amazingly BTW, if a little dark due having less light with the rear window removed)
  14. Dealers have next to no stock coming through for the rest of the year is a factor. Eventually they will sell and with a finite level of stock they are probably more likely to try and make the most from it they can. If you know Lotus will ship you another you can take a hit on margin, same with used if the stock is not coming through they try to maximise prices Personally I don't know why they don't start shifting stock and buying up used so their forecourts don't look like they are closing down, but thats for them to worry about
  15. Needed to adjust the diffuser as the original owner didn't get it fitted quite right, so it was pulling the rear panel out of place, I just had to adjust the side panels back and forward a few MM, not sure why Reverie didn't get these right as they aren't exactly variable but there you go: It took quite a few goes and lots of adjusting, but it now fits properly. Not sure why it wasn't done on original fit, but easier to bodge than do properly. Usual polishing and stuff to make it look nice
  16. Another boring update... When the car was stripped down over the winter it was clear that the heatshield had seen better days and picked up corrosion, they all seem to do this if they were driven in the wet in the early days. Mankiness: General advice as it was covering stuff it just looked ugly but as you never see it, just ignore it. Taking that in mind I decided to replace the whole thing I got some new nimbus and constructed a new version, with donor side parts from another car so it looked better, made sure the Spitfire toelink ends were properly covered, I'm sure they'd be fine but wanted to be sure I also added some double layer on the bolts as these always seem to rip through And here is the brace bar between the Spitfire Toelinks, which was a lovely milled piece by Ollie at Phoenix 2bular exhaust back on, and you can see the stainless diffuser brackets which should not dissolve like the OEM ones, will carbon wrap these to they are less obvious against the diffuser
  17. Absolutely, the car is still on the original wheels in perfect condition. I always had to keep the originals it would be wrong without, but fancied having an alternative choice as a spare set. If you'd like to talk let me know 👍
  18. Obviously I've neglected this thread and the car - I haven't really done anything for months to be honest. I'll be finishing things up, then moving on, times have changed for me so id rather see it being used in a good home not sitting there not being used - so shout if anyone is after a mint MY10 Cup260 Tried out the wheels, love the look (I'm sure not to everyones tastes) but may never see the road on this car: Anyway, final bits - the panel above the diffuser was Ok, but needed a refresh, it had some marks under the number plate so couldn't go with a smaller plate. Plus you always know its there, its the final bit of not quite right being sorted so feels good knowing the rest is purely for the sake of it rather than it bothers me so a quick rub back and prime Then laid down some paint and let it dry before refitting Rest of the weekend will be to clean up exhaust, fit diffuser as the carbon diffuser needs a few holes adjusting and the previous owner (or the fitting garage) never did. Then remove some bits from the interior that are no longer needed cameras etc, before a proper rear clam polish
  19. He said tracking was done, but to places that call it tracking thats not not normally playing with camber or caster and doubt they would have have the shims to adjust - a badly good Elise can feel awful even if the toe is set correct
  20. Elises and Exiges are very geo sensitive, that sounds out and needs sorting. The platform allows all manner of characteristics to be dialled in, something clearly is not right in the example you drove. Drive another with Geo correctly set
  21. Here you go @felipe guelfi , lotus instruction fir crotch strap install. http://www.billswebspace.com/Lotus6PointHarness.pdf
  22. The old shed after a considerable (still ongoing) scrub up over the winter:
  23. PPF now done and back, pretty happy with the results. I'm never in love with PPF, its shiny but due to its nature you can't get it utterly insane bonkers PPF was done at Invisifilm in middlewich, good service and good job and very happy with the outcome. Fair to say I had a proper poor mans car, with a Mac 620r being done before me, and various Ferraris, GT3s etc lined up after Price was very good, but fair to say he'd underquoted me when I booked it, after a slightly shocked face the original price was honoured so all was good. Here it is in real life, on a dreary day as it was just about to rain and its still looking good but gives a kind of worst case look on the finish without bright lights or sun, it really does need some bright light to give the punchy colour Now I need to sticker it up on the rear clam, I thought the silver LOTUS badge looked off. I got Dan to do a black and silver Exige sticker so I had the option I sprayed up a spare set of LOTUS badges to be gloss black Then mounted in 3M VHB tape (red bits the backing sheet not the tape) So I have the option of OEM badging, but also going all black as I have no other silver bits I've also sorted the slightly larger intercooler from Proalloy, and the ducting kit. I went with Proalloy as it didn't involve drilling the clam to mount the ducting, so its all fully reversable. Will also be adding the catch cans I would have preferred to add a charge cooler, and I did seriously consider it as I've had the clams off a few times this year, but it was just changes that you couldn't remove, certainly not easily. So although better, this was firmly a nod to not keeping it roughly OEM or at least revertible Now the car is back I have quite a few bits to do: Rear diffuser polish and tidy up Refit trimmed interior Rear panel, removal and powder coat or paint (it’s a bit ratty) Lightweight handbrake callipers Change to floating rotors front and rear TRD airbox Repaint front callipers (people have been a bit lazy putting wheels on) Polish the rest of the car Sticker up rear clam Ceramic coat Rear reverse camera (cabling already roughly in place) Plus a million smaller things, and I may drop some from the list depending on how much I can be bothered….
  24. Onto the proper paint correction, it was a fairly standard approach I generally use Rupes pads, I doubt they are the best these days (each year sees a new 'game changer'), but like most its easier to get a system working for you and to work around that. This paint was relatively soft, but the scratches where it had been dry wiped at the body shop were done when the paint was very soft - making it quite hard to remove, but also very easy to inflict fine finishing marks - an extremely frustrating combo. Anyway combos I used on the car were (as people always ask): Sanding removal: Rupes Blue microfibre pad, Menz 400 heavy cut Defect removal: Rupes Green Foam Pad, Menz 2500 polish Swirl removal: Rupes yellow pad, Menz 2500 polish Refinement: Rupes yellow pad, Menz 3800 polish I'd always try to go lightest first, but if there we a panel (like the door) that I needed to fix lacquer issues I need to go through 2 or 3 passes of each step I also use 3ich pads on an LHR75E, I'd prefer to use the long throw LHR21Mk3 as its has a 21mm throw, but its pointless on the exige, the panels are just too small! Anyway, heres an example panel (pass side wing), during refinement, starting with swirly, going to refined: I then spent many many hours going through multiple stages on every panel Here is single stage done on the roof and rear clam and front refined - you can see the overall definition difference on the door which hasn't been done Here are some shots post correction Front wing now like this: Rear clam: Front Clam: Reflection shot from front clam (all unedited and straight out of phone) Beauty of removable panels is you can take them off and reflect the car on itself Now paint was done I could start adding these stickers TitaniumDan (https://divinehandcraft.co.uk) made me (which were perfect and would recommend Dan for all your sticker needs, if all suppliers worked to his standard the world would be a better place 😞 Wing stickers on All done at about midnight before dropping off to do the PPF, splitter, wing and pods all back on. I lost an hour at this point when I couldn't find my number plates, it turns out they were under the carpet pads on the floor
  25. No updates for a while, usual story of work being insane so zero evenings or weekends to do anything, and the car naturally drops down the list. I will say, for this post if you think a car should be a bit battered and mirror finishes etc are pointless, probably best skip this read Now the paint had been on for a month or so, I could PPF to protect the main contact areas. I'm not really a fan of the look of PPF being honest, it looks fine from a distance but will never give the shine of naked paint so didn't want to go full car or anything Before I could PPF I had to prep the paint, I had barely touched the paint but it was obvious the bodyshop had dragged many a dry rag over it, so was swirled to buggery. Also there was many defects as I already mentioned. As the car sits under bright lights, I'll admit some of them you wouldn't see in daylight, but they were still there. Since I've had it back I've been wet sanding theses defects out, some are dust nibs, some a pinholes from too thick lacquer, some even small drips - but its taken weeks to find them all and remove them. I know I maybe look at it differently as I'm a detailing nerd and want the small defects fixed, plus I look for these things. But I would have been really frustrated if I needed to get someone else to remediate. As it was it just depressed me after all the time and money that went into the car. Anyway, once all the touch ups and wet sanding was completed (countless hours) I could polish properly for PPF. I was going for full front clam, splitter and access panel, full sills and some bits behind the rear wheels. These would be the areas I'dd focus and get flawless. Doors, roof and rear clam would get a single stage but I'd do them properly later, as I knew I've still got jobs leaning in the engine bay etc So she looked fine from a distance: And look better with actual light, but harder to find defects being honest. Either way start taping up and spot polishing on the wetsanding areas. You can see in this shot, although it looks shiny, you can see the swirls and light scratches on the outside of the wing. You'll also see the repaired splitter which will be replaced A view of some of the remaining issues Sanding marks on the top of the doors: General swirlaramma on the clam: Buffer marks from bodyshop: Even more on the door: Splitter removed, I found this was much easier than doing this on a v6 - which had about 20 bolts, weighed a ton and to do on the floor required you to balance it with your head and foot, whilst bolting it in. Another win for the s2 So I now have 3 splitters: manky GRP, slightly wonky carbon, perfect carbon. I may change for track, but its probably easier to not drive into stuff Actually polishing is the next step
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking " I Accept ", you consent to our use of cookies. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.